US says hostage release deal is ‘very close’ as father-son captives Youssef and Hamza al-Zayadna confirmed dead

The US says it’s on the brink of securing the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. The deal will come too late for father and son captives Youssef and Hamza al-Zayadna.

The Israeli military confirmed they had recovered the body of a hostage in Gaza and brought it back to Israel following a “complex and difficult operation”.

The body of Bedouin Arab hostage Youssef al-Zayadna was found as international mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States kept up a push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

“The troops located and recovered the body of hostage Youssef al-Zayadna from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip and returned his body to Israel,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

The body of Arab Israeli hostage Youssef al-Zayadna has been retrieved from Gaza. Picture: X

Earlier on Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz had announced that the remains of Zayadna’s son, Hamza, had also been brought to Israel.

The Arab Bedouin father and son were seized by Palestinian militants from Kibbutz Holit near the Gaza border during the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

Kidnapped with them were Hamza’s sister and brother, who were released during a week-long truce in November 2023.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “make every effort to bring all our captives home – both the living and the fallen”.

Mr Netanyahu’s critics have accused him of blocking a negotiated deal for their release, while he has blamed Hamas for not accepting his conditions.

Campaign group, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, called for a deal to be struck as quickly as possible.

Mr al-Zayadna’s son Hamza has also been declared dead.

“The emerging agreement comes far too late for Youssef, who was taken alive and should have returned the same way,” the forum said in a statement.

“Every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger to the hostages who have managed to survive for 15 months, and threatens the possibility of returning the deceased for burial.”

Of the 251 original hostages, 95 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been brokering a fresh round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Doha.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that a deal was “very close”.

“I hope that we can get it over the line in the time that we have,” Blinken said, referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

But if not, “I believe that when we get that deal – and we’ll get it – it’ll be on the basis of the plan that President (Joe) Biden put before the world back in May.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal in Gaza would come together. Picture: Jeon Heon-Kyun/Pool/Getty Images

In May, Biden unveiled a three-phase plan for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.

As the negotiations continue, Israeli forces again pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people across the already devastated territory.

In one strike on a family home in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City, five people were killed, the civil defence agency said.

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‘ALREADY IS HELL’

Gazans have hit back at Donald Trump’s threats to Hamas after the US President-elect said “all hell will break out” if Israeli hostages are not released, saying the situation in the area “already is hell”.

Local health officials said on Wednesday (local time) that nearly 46,000 Gazans have been killed in a landscape largely reduced to rubble.

“I am not sure he understands the situation here — it is already hell,” Gazan Alaa Isamtold the New York Times.

Donald Trump speaks at the Mar-a-Lago Club. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

Negotiations to end the war between Israel and Hamas are deadlocked, leaving civilians in Gaza caught in the crossfire with little hope for the future.

“We have been being killed for 15 months,” Mr Isam said. “We have been through two cold winters in tents, two hot summers that ruined our food. We have been subject to starvation and people died out of hunger, in addition to the continuous brutal bombardment of everywhere.”

Other Gazans told reporters Mr Trump’s threats were a “bad joke”, slamming the incoming president for stoking fire on an already horrific situation.

Earlier, Mr Trump warned Hamas to release the remaining hostages before his inauguration on January 20 or else “all hell will break out.

A Lebanese soldier looks on in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area under a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah. Picture: AFP

“It will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone,” Mr Trump said.

“All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is.”

Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s pick for special envoy to the Middle East, announced during the press conference that some progress has been made to release the remaining hostages.

“I believe we’ve been on the verge of it. I don’t want to discuss sort of what’s delayed it,” he said.

Mr Trump hailed his special envoy to the Middle East pick as a “great negotiator”.

“I don’t want to hurt the negotiation. If the deal isn’t done before I take office, which will be two weeks, all hell will break out in the Middle East,” he said.

TRUCE TALKS HANG ON ‘A LOT OF ISSUES’

Talks aimed at cementing a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas are ongoing, with “technical meetings” taking place between the parties, mediator Qatar’s foreign ministry said.

“The technical meetings are still happening between both sides,” ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said, referring to meetings with lower-level officials on the details of an agreement. “There are no principal meetings taking place at the moment.”

Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been engaged in months of talks between Israel and Hamas that have failed to end the devastating conflict in Gaza.

Weapons which the Israeli army says belonged to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and is part of weaponry seized by the army during its ground operation in south Lebanon. Picture: AFP

Ansari said there were “a lot of issues that are being discussed” in the ongoing meetings, but declined to go into details “to protect the integrity of the negotiations”.

Hamas said at the end of last week that indirect negotiations in Doha had resumed, while Israel said it had authorised negotiators to continue the talks in the Qatari capital.

A previous round of mediation in December ended with both sides blaming the other for the impasse, with Hamas accusing Israel of setting “new conditions” and Israel accusing Hamas of throwing up “obstacles” to a deal.